Severe Weather Threatens Millions of Americans

Millions of Americans from the South and the Midwest are under severe weather threat. People are advised to keep their ears to the radio and their eyes to the sky. With forecasters warning of tornadoes, ghastly winds and hail by storms, no less than 35 people have died since Sunday. According to the National Weather Service, millions of Americans were under a slight to moderate threat of severe weather from Mississippi to New York, in the eastern half of the United States.

Alabama and Mississippi, where on Monday tornadoes caused a number of deaths and huge destruction, were again warned for the worst of the forecast on Tuesday evening. In North Carolina, several tornado warnings were also in effect, while forecasters state the storm was traveling north.

Thousands of people were without power in the South, where tornadoes ripped through businesses and homes on Monday. On Monday, no less than 17 people died in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. The numbers of deaths are in addition to 18 others reported in Arkansas, Iowa and Oklahoma from Sunday’s storms. Rescue and search teams were still under way Tuesday in Mississippi’s Louisville around 90 miles northeast of Jackson, where a tornado the day before crushed a daycare building, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Severe weather still threatens millions of Americans, but the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center cited threat areas with the most recent storm expanded from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes south and east to the Atlantic Ocean.

Almost 2.5 million people in parts of Mississippi and Alabama were at moderate risk of destructive winds, tornadoes, and scattered large hail in the evening, weather predictions said. Monday’s storms left many parts in Alabama and Mississippi communities damaged. Mississippi officials confirmed 12 deaths. Two people died in Tennessee and three in Alabama, according to officials.

Birthplace of Elvis Presley, in Tupelo, and buildings near the main business area on the north side of the city were wiped away. In addition, several power lines and trees were reportedly touched down and some buildings were destroyed. In Tennessee, two people were killed in Lincoln County, near the Alabama border. There was an elementary school that was reportedly partially torn away. The building’s roof was damaged and the storm flung a school bus into the school. Luckily, the bus and school were empty at the time.

In Alabama, a 21-year-old student of the University of Alabama died, the university confirmed. The student, Jon Servati, was a member of the university’s swimming and diving team, the athletic department of the school said in a statement. Two more deaths were reported at a trailer park close to Athens, around 22 miles west of Huntsville. Power lines were downed and gas leaks made the area risky, CNN reported.

In Alabama’s Jefferson County, Birmingham is the largest city where a fire station and a church were hit. People were trapped for some time in the church, but no one was badly injured, said a county’s emergency management agency spokesman. According to the Alabama Emergency Management Agency, almost 90,000 businesses and homes were without electricity Tuesday afternoon. Around 10,000 people remained with power around Jackson, Mississippi.

Although, severe weather threatens millions of Americans, Arkansas’ Faulkner County was Sunday’s most-hit area in the United States, where a tornado devastated homes and killed 11 people in the towns of Vilonia and Mayflower, including one death newly reported by officials on Tuesday.